Wednesday, September 19, 2012

What Motivates "Consistent Preterists"?



The first thing the reader should notice is that I plan to stop calling people "hyperpreterists", but will begin to refer to this group as "Consistent Preterists".  Why? Well, the so-called "Partial-Preterists" or "historical Preterists" have made such a shamble of eschatology that I no longer think it fair that Consistent Preterists should be considered as being "beyond" or "hyper" preterism.  After all, popular partial-preterist author and speaker, Gary DeMar has said of Christian eschatology:

"... I'm willing to listen to what others say on an issue, especially on eschatology since it's been a garbled mess for centuries. It's conceivable that so-called eschatological heretics are seeing something I'm not seeing. They're willing to take the risk. Many are not." -- source



Well, if the premise of these partial-preterists and their so-called anti-preterists is that centuries of Christian eschatology has been a "garbled mess" then more power to the consistent preterists that are trying to make it right.  So, while I used to think that what motivated consistent preterists was a general disdain for historical Christianity and the Church, I now think perhaps most of the motivation comes from a general disdain for snobby, elitists hypocrites like DeMar who CLAIM to represent historical Christianity and the Church.  This realization became more evident when I came face-to-face with the mentor of foremost "hyperpreterist" leader, Sam Frost.  Frost's mentor is Kenneth Talbot who created his own denomination, own church, and own seminary.  After my interaction with Talbot, it became apparent why Frost was such an elitist snob; he is a chip off the old block.  But even more, when Frost claimed to have left the "hyperpreterist" movement, his elitism didn't decrease.  If anything it has gotten worse.  So, I think the reason I had a construed vision of what motivated consistent preterists is because their spokesman was so hateful.

While I still believe just about ANY form of Preterism should be rejected, I can now at least appreciate what motivates many consistent preterists.  They don't buy into all the "follow me or else" tactics of men like Talbot and Frost.  After all, Frost spent years trying to get people to follow his version of preterism.  Talbot even tried to foist a new kind called "Realized Preterism", just like all his other self-made endeavors.

Anyhow, I apologize to consistent preterists for labeling them "hyper".  Even though "hyper" simply means beyond or above; since the so-called partials and anti-preterists are far more convoluted, who is to say if consistent preterists are beyond or above historical preterism.

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